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I arrived in Toronto this afternoon. I had a smooth flight. I was greeted by dad, Ashleigh, Rachel, mom and Dennis. It was such a good feeling to see them. It's been a long 2.5 years and I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. We instantly felt like you do with family...at ease...comfortable. I realized that none of us could finish a single story because we were all so excited and had a million things to say to each other. Everyone was hyper so it made for a very interesting dinner. I love it when my family gets that way. It's like when we were kids.

I love that my dad and Dennis can be around each other without things being awkward in anyway. I love how much change our family has had and have come out better than ok. They are so amazing. This is the best part about being away from the special people in your life. It's the I-haven't-seen-you-in-14-months-and-life-is-better-now period. If you've ever lived away from your family, you know what I'm talking about.

I'm going to do my best to keep things this way. I don't want to take them for granted.

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My parents divorced when I was in first year university. Since then I haven't had my own bedroom. Since I've lived in France, Waterloo and Korea since then it hasn't been a big deal. I've dealt with sleeping on couches and futons for the two month times I've been home. It was something that was stressing me out about moving back here though. I've been spoiled with a pretty good apartment for the past little while and I didn't know what I was going to do about not having a place of my own.

My dad was going to clean out his office/storage room to use as my room when I was home. As we were driving home he told me that I'd have to stay in Ashleigh's room for a while because he didn't have the time to clean out the room for me. Even though I tried not to show it, my face said that I wasn't happy about it. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to let that spoil the night.

When we got to his place dad and Ashleigh had their cameras out when I came over to bring my luggage into the room. They had lied to me to surprise me. I instantly started crying. I haven't cried since I've left Korea. All of the stress and worry that I had about being back just came out. They had done so much work to move everything and give me a space to call my own. They said that they wanted me to feel at home and not just that I was visiting. Ashleigh had decorated and made it look so great! It was really one of the nicest things that anyone has ever done for me. I'm so blessed.